The concept of a "13th Tribe" is a myth, which is based upon another myth. There is no physical evidence the Jacob even existed, much less that such a man fathered a dozen or more sons who established the kingdoms of Israel and Judea. Even if it were so, it would mean that everyone descended from the alleged 13th son is a Jew.
The Dark Ages notwithstanding, it is the European and Asian cultures that have risen to dominate the global economy in the last 1200 years, while the African nations were busy slaughtering each other when they were not selling each other into slavery. Not even the mighty Zulus have advanced beyond violent tribalism to play a significant role in global affairs.
But that's all ancient history.
Back in the day, no student would dare to lay a hand on a teacher. Not only would they be arrested, but teachers were not afraid to defend themselves (if need be) for fear of lawsuits; instead, parents took the side of "Law & Order" when it came to their own violent children. A child that attacked a teacher did not come back to public school - they were instead sent off to Juvenile Detention facilities, and their parents were too ashamed to even show their faces in public in the same town. Nowadays, some parents are actually proud when their 200-pound student son attacks a 120-pound teacher and puts her in the hospital ... "Getting back at the man" and "representing for the races" are what it's called, and the student goes on to be a big man in the hood, while the educational system loses another teacher to violence.
When students blame everyone but themselves for their own failures, they will never succeed. Many students "of colour" manage to avoid becoming just another statistic of the violent urban sub-culture, eventually graduate, and move on to college. Once they leave the hood, their children have an even better chance of success. They do it, so it can be done, in spite of an oppressive environment.
If students did not dress like prison inmates, they would not be told to pull their pants up. If they express themselves as violent prison inmates (criminals are, by definition, worthless parasites on society), then they will be treated as violent criminals, no matter what else they do. Look and act like you belong in a cage, and that's where you'll end up. And part of the act involves defying authority, disrupting order, flouting the law, and obstructing the educational process for others. In this last case, when students are more worried that "they local gangstas are gonna pop a cap in they asses fo bein Poindextas an makin em look like fools," then they are not going to be paying much attention to their own educations. It's the hoods that make a bad environment even worse with their intimidating gangsta culture, and their confusing of fear with respect. The students who refuse to conform should just drop out and leave the rest to succeed.
It's also the idea that anyone who conforms, learns, graduates, and becomes a useful citizen is somehow betraying "they homies" and enslaving themselves to white corporate culture. Well, so be it. That's where the money is, not on the street, not in the prison, and not on some slab in the morgue with a bullet through the brain. Becoming successful means conformity - even entertainers conform to what popular culture determines to be "right" - it's called the "Profit Motive."
Right now, teachers are forced to both "Teach to the Test" and promote sudents who have not earned the promotion, instead of teaching critical thinking and problem solving skills. This is disguised as a "self-esteem" issue and leads only to graduating hordes of illiterate and innumerate people into the labour pool. When students would rather feel good about bucking the system than becoming successful, when failure to meet minimal standards of achievement is rewarded instead of corrected, when students know that they can use threats and intimidation against each other and their teachers without reprisal, than effective teachers and administrators leave urban "diploma mills" to those third-rate instructors who don't give a damn about anything other than staying alive long enough to collect a paycheck and earn tenure so that thay too can move away from the urban gangsta environment and into a place where learning is more highly valued than street cred.
Get the violent gangstas out of public schools, and restore those schools to institutions of learning, instead of training grounds for failure.
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The mere fact that science may not yet adequately explain an object, event, or experience does not mean the immediate explanation should automatically default to a conspiratorial, extraterrestrial, paranormal, or supernatural cause.
12 Oct 2008, 10:43 pm
